


Competition

by rhysespieses



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Prison, Space Prison, these babies have been through some shit help them, they talk bc they literally have nothing else to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23859868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysespieses/pseuds/rhysespieses
Summary: Catra and Glimmer reflect on their actions in s4 as they wait for either Horde Prime to find some use for them, or for their friends to get them off Prime’s spaceship.
Kudos: 13





	Competition

**Author's Note:**

> I don't ship Glimmer and Catra personally, but I figured something like this is bound to happen in the show, so... yeah.

Catra looked out the window of her and Sparkle’s “private room.” Horde Prime considered himself a generous host, and after Catra had provided the information about the planet, he wanted to make sure his “guests” were properly accommodated. The room, in reality, was just a glorified holding cell, but there were beds for both of them and a window to look out of; so there was that at least. 

Etheria hovered below them in Horde Prime’s ship. It looked so small from up here, even though Catra just spent the better part of the last several months conquering it with Hordak. The landmasses visible seemed to blend from this extreme birds-eye perspective; you couldn’t tell where the territory of one kingdom ended and where another began. The only things that were even remotely distinguishable were a large landmass that looked broken off the mainland- Beast Island, no doubt- and a patch of land that looked like a rust stain which could only be the Fright Zone. 

“How long until Horde Prime finds it necessary to use us to conquer the planet?” Glimmer asked. Her voice was low and dull as if there weren’t an ounce of fire left in the young Queen of Bright Moon. And there probably wasn’t, as far as Catra was concerned; the Heart of Etheria Project had repercussions unlike anyone had ever seen, and Glimmer had decided to spearhead the project on her own in an attempt at wanting to assert her authority and win the war. 

“I don’t know. Men in power can be incredibly secretive,” Catra replied, folding her arms. Her experience with Hordak and taking Shadow Weaver’s administrative position had taught her that much.

“So can women. I didn’t tell Adora or Bow about going to kickstart the Heart of Etheria Project. And you never really felt it necessary to tell your old friends why you were sending them out on raids so much…” 

“I don’t have friends,” Catra interrupted. “I don’t need them. They slow you down and get in the way. _You_ do all the hard work, but _they_ get all the praise, all the rewards, all the credit. And when you try to tell them how you feel, they stab you in the back.” 

Glimmer fell silent for a long moment, a notable achievement in Catra’s opinion. But the next thing that fell out of her mouth was unexpected.

“I know what you mean.”

Catra never felt her blood boil more than at this moment; it boiled harder than any time she confronted Adora, more than when she fought Shadow Weaver and Hordak, even more than when Scorpia left her after calling her a bad friend. She fixed Glimmer with a deadly stare and marched up to her, getting in her face. 

“You and I are _**nothing**_ alike,” she growled.

“Tell yourself that as much as you want, but it’s true,” Glimmer said. “We both want our side to win. And neither of us are content with what we’ve managed to accomplish. We don’t want to sit back at home base, we wanna be out there fighting for our side, but some people question our motives.” 

Catra hated to admit it, but Sparkles did have a point. “That and we both hired the same mercenary to mess with us,” she added begrudgingly. If she ever saw Double Trouble again, she’d wring their sorry neck with her own hands. 

“Point is, we made the war into a competition; we both poor choices in leadership roles,” Glimmer said. “And we paid for them. We’ve lost battles, territory, and people. I hate to admit it as much as you do, but we’re more alike than either of us really understand.” 

Catra just folded her arms again and stared at the floor; she and Spark- Glimmer- really were similar, whether she liked it or not. And that wasn’t a good thing, as far as Catra was concerned. 

“Once I became Queen, Adora and Bow became super protective of me. Looking back on it now, I think it had something to do with my mom…” Glimmer said, her voice trailing off. 

Catra thought of Shadow Weaver- the closest thing she did have to a mother- and clenched her jaw. “At least you had a mom that cared about you.”

Glimmer grimaced. “Right, you and Adora are both orphans. Sorry.”

"Don't waste your breath," Catra said. "It won't do anything for someone no one cares about." 

“You do have people who care about you, Catra. Scorpia cares about you, and so does Adora…” 

“Adora and Scorpia both left me!” Catra screamed, banging her fist on the wall. "They both left after promising that they wouldn't abandon me! You don't know anything about them! If they both really cared about me, they wouldn’t have left me!”

Glimmer was hesitant to say anything else, in case it made Catra snap, and attack her. Catra took this short silence and used it to continue. 

“Shadow Weaver was never impressed with me and did everything in her power to knock me down so Adora could be perfect. Hordak was never going to take me seriously unless I hit him where it hurt. The look on Adora’s face when She-Ra destroyed the portal device was unlike anything I’d seen from her. Ever. It was a look of pure- _anger_. And Scorpia just looked so _distant_ when she left. I thought I had DT, but I was an idiot for thinking a merc that I hired to tear you guys apart from the inside could be my friend. So you see, Sparkles, I don't have anyone who cares about me."

The two young women just stared at each other, Catra glaring daggers and Glimmer melancholic. 

Catra eventually smoothed down her hair and curled up with her back to Glimmer on the other bed and took off her headpiece. The silence that followed was oppressive and long. Catra almost wished she hadn’t just spilled her emotional guts to her enemy, but what else could she do? Who else was there to listen? 

“When I get out of here,” Glimmer said, quietly so she wouldn’t startle Catra, “I’m going to find Bow and Adora, and I’m gonna beg for them to forgive me. I don't expect them to; I’ve done nothing but make stupid choices, I've acted like anything other than a queen, and I was a jerk to my friends. I want to make up for that however I can. That’s what I’m going to do. If Adora and Scorpia are back at Bright Moon by then, maybe you should think about what you’re going to say to them." 

"You'd let me waltz right into your home and base of operations just for the chance to apologize to people who left me?" Catra asked. "You're dumber than I thought. And also, isn't my abusive adoptive mother there as well, teaching you magic?" 

"Yes, to both those things. I can't speak for Shadow Weaver, but I can say this; Adora and Scorpia really do care about you, Catra. You might not have liked it when they both left, but they left because they couldn't help you while they were in the Horde. Just- think about that."

Glimmer leaned back and rolled over onto her side, her back to Catra's.

"Whatever Horde Prime has planned," she added, "I hope it doesn't happen. I don't wanna be stranded in space feeling guilty for the rest of my life." 

Catra's tail curled around her leg, and her ears drooped in a way that indicated sadness. "Me too," she said quietly. 


End file.
